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The Unfinished Fight Volume 2

I just received my copy of "The Unfinished Fight Volume 2: More Essays on Confederate Material Culture" by Craig Barry (and in a very timely manner through Watchdog Publications via Amazon.com) and once again Craig comes through with some great writing and excellent information. Although its no secret that I consider Craig a good friend, I can say without bias that he is asset to research and the hobby in general with this latest offering. Volume 2 is written in the same clear manner as the first, but with an even more eclectic offering of chapters that run across the board of Confederate topics. My favorite has been the chapter on Confederate sutlers (with lots of primary account reference). The images and chapter endnotes are worth it alone. I am proud to have this book reside on the shelf along with the works from Gaede, Jensen, Brown, etc.

I just received my copy of "The Unfinished Fight Volume 2: More Essays on Confederate Material Culture" by Craig Barry (and in a very timely manner through Watchdog Publications via Amazon.com) and once again Craig comes through with some great writing and excellent information. Although its no secret that I consider Craig a good friend, I can say without bias that he is asset to research and the hobby in general with this latest offering. Volume 2 is written in the same clear manner as the first, but with an even more eclectic offering of chapters that run across the board of Confederate topics. My favorite has been the chapter on Confederate sutlers (with lots of primary account reference). The images and chapter endnotes are worth it alone. I am proud to have this book reside on the shelf along with the works from Gaede, Jensen, Brown, etc.

Well thanks for the kind words. I probably waited too long for "Wearing the Gray" to happen and this research material was "ready to publish" for quite a while. The thing about the CS sutler essay is that this oft-repeated nonsense about them "being a thing unknown in the ANV" always bugged me. Period accounts are brimming about encounters with Confederate sutlers some of whom seemed to be fairly well stocked with goods even in late 1864...And in the AoT, the story about "Pies" the sutler and his mule (from Campfires of the Confederacy) still brings a smile to your face. Hopefully, this at least puts that myth about there being no sutlers goods available for the CS rank and file to rest. It was fun to research and write about Confederate material culture before we all get too old to care.

And it provides some light reading while C&S Digest gets the software issues squared away and the next issue is up on line.

Oh, I forgot to ask Mr.Barry what his impessions is on the famous picture of the 2nd confederate and the object on finger. Mr. Barry goes into great detail about the three prisoners in his most current book. I know this question has been brought up before, but I give Mr. Barry's opinion much weight.

I left it alone because I have found no backing. The theories abound, but I couldn't add anything credible to the discussion. You know the "ration canteen" in the next essay of the soldier at Spotsylvania in 1864 helps explains that odd half moon shaped object in the image? You could find other references to those which support it, but I have never seen any reference to a soldier binding one finger like that. Two fingers bound together, you might well think that one finger was sprained or dislocated and this was battlefield first aid. This was a very common minor injury.

Why two black bands, one on either side of the knuckle and only around one finger? There does not appear to be a splint under the black bands and the finger is not straightened out, but relaxed at the same angle just like the all the other fingers on that hand. About all you can do is rule things out...it is not black electricians tape, which is what it looks most like. It is not jewelry or a bandage, etc. It had to serve some function, but exactly what is a mystery. My ignorance of 19th century material culture is vast compared with that drop in the bucket which I know for certain. What drives me to research and write is I want to know, and these loose ends frustrate me. There are a lot of them, too. Loose ends and dead-ends. You want to avoid assumptions, but what are you left with here?

My theory is it is a reminder from his wife to bring home a gallon of milk.

Either way, it has as much credibility as any other theories offered up on the subject of CS soldier # 2's black finger bands.
We just have to accept that there are details about the mid-19th century we will never fully understand. Unless I can back it
up, the best motto is to treat it like a Bigfoot sighting. I saw "something" but I don't know what it was.

There used to be a fairly knowledgeable member on here screen named "Trimmings", I kind of learned that lesson from him.

My favorite image in the Vol II book is the woman insufflating snuff tobacco (chapter 17). What an unattractive pose.
Perhaps that was the point. Considering how stiffling gender roles could be in the mid-19th century, women had
different ways of creating independence and asserting themselves.